But Howie just got riled up, and so he decided to post what he seemed to believe was the ultimate “gotcha”—Collins may have revealed he was gay, but he didn’t reveal he had been engaged to a woman.

Ummm . . . O.K. Before we explore all the reasons this is trash, I’ll let Howie speak for himself.

One of the reasons that Jason Collins’ coming out packed such an emotional punch is that he appeared to be telling all.

He had always struggled with being gay, the NBA player said to Sports Illustrated and George Stephanopoulos, drawing rave reviews for his candor and a congratulatory call from President Obama.

Except that he left out one little part.

He was engaged. To be married. To a woman.

Howie, Howie, Howie. It seems that our media critic failed to take one important step before launching his attack—actually reading the piece in question. To quote Collins:

When I was younger I dated women. I even got engaged. I thought I had to live a certain way. I thought I needed to marry a woman and raise kids with her. I kept telling myself the sky was red, but I always knew it was blue.

O.K., so Kurtz attacked Collins for not revealing what he had revealed. Bad enough. Then someone at The Daily Beast dashed back in with a fix that simply made the whole episode more embarrassing. Rather than saying Collins “left out one little part,” the words were changed to “downplayed one detail.”

I’m not quite sure what they meant. He disclosed it, he revealed the reasons why, and he explored his own emotional conflict that fed into the decision. What more did Kurtz want? Photographs? Ashes and sackcloth for 20 pages? Problem was, Kurtz was saying nothing more than “I, Howie Kurtz, am not satisfied.” Well, the response came back hard with “We, the Internet, are.”

Twitter was brutal. But the reader comments at the bottom of Kurtz’s piece were downright scorching.

“Mr. Kurts [sic]. . . . I just have one question for you. . . . Do you actually read an article or research material before you write your own cometary on it. . . . . ?”

“I’m so embarrassed for you. You actually get paid for this bullshit?”

“Why does the Beast seem to strive to lower the bar for journalism by employing this hack?”

When not attacking Kurtz’s journalism, the online commenters frequently pointed out how unsophisticated his view of human sexuality was. Even in his own wrong piece, Kurtz acknowledged that Collins “struggled” with his homosexuality. In his own words, Collins portrayed himself in terms that seem almost stereotypical for the closeted gay man—he tried to be what he wasn’t. Shoved deep into the closet by ignorant, raging hyenas, Collins wrestled, and did what he thought he should do by working to establish a relationship with a woman. Some gay men even marry their girlfriends, perhaps to hide or perhaps in hopes that they will change. No matter—Collins addressed the issue, with grace and sophistication.

As a journalist, I think that Kurtz’s biggest sin was either not reading or misrepresenting the article he wrote about. As a person, I think it’s his decided lack of empathy for the reality of those who struggle with the spectrum of sexuality, and who sometimes must choose between stirring up hatred with the truth or living in misery with the lie.

And that, not some feeble “gotcha,” is the real meaning of Collins’s story.